William  Whiting  Borden 


A  SHORT  LIFE  COMPLETE 
IN  CHRIST 


“/  live;  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me.” 

Galatians  2:  20. 


By  CHARLES  SOUTTER  CAMPBELL 
Yale,  1909 


CONTENTS  AND  SUGGESTIONS  FOR 
DAILY  BIBLE  STUDY 

I.  Life  Prior  to  Entering  College  .  .  3 

II.  Borden  at  Yale  .....  7 

III.  At  Princeton  Seminary  .  .  .  .20 

IV.  The  Final  Year  .  .  .  .  .25 

I.  Vision  and  Preparation,  Isaiah  6  : 1-8. 

II.  The  Voice  and  the  Commission,  Acts  26:  12-20. 

III.  “The  Rich  Fool,”  Luke  12: 13-21. 

IV.  The  Peril  of  Riches  Avoided,  Mark  10: 17-31. 

V.  He  “Preached  unto  Him  Jesus,”  Acts  8 :  26-40. 

VI.  “I  have  Fought  the  Good  Fight,”  II  Timothy 
3  : 14-4 :  8. 

VII.  The  Victor’s  Song,  Psalm  16. 


WILLIAM  WHITING  BORDEN 


I.  Life  Prior  to  Entering  College 

This  Yale  man  was  born  in  Chicago,  November  1, 
1887.  His  home  was  one  of  refinement  and  comfort. 
His  mother  was  an  earnest  and  capable  woman,  of 
fine  Christian  character;  his  father  a  successful  busi¬ 
ness  man,  of  brilliant  mind,  a  lover  of  home  and 
children.  Bill  inherited  his  father’s  business  ability 
and  fairness  of  mind;  he  had,  as  well,  his  mother’s 
earnest  faith  and  intensity.  From  both  he  inherited 
the  affectionate  nature  that  throughout  life  was  one 
of  his  finest  traits. 

It  was  in  such  surroundings  that  Bill  spent  his  boy¬ 
hood  days.  The  parents  planned  for  their  children  the 
very  best  training  and  education.  Spiritual  guidance 
and  influences  were  prominent  and  the  Bible  had 
the  place  of  importance,  so  that  Bill  early  became 
acquainted  with  its  characters  and  its  teaching.  There 
were  four  children  in  the  Borden  family.  Bill  was  the 
third,  having  a  brother  and  sister  older  and  a  second 
sister  younger  than  himself.  His  relations  with  this 
younger  sister  were  especially  close  and  affectionate. 
When  she  was  a  very  small  baby,  Bill  wrote  the  fol¬ 
lowing  letter  about  her:  “I  think  the  baby  is  awful 
cunning.  It  has  a  little  cold  in  her  head.  One  day 
the  butcher  came  in  and  found  the  maids  all  so  happy 
because  was  a  little  baby,  so  he  told  Mrs.  Hatch  and 
Mrs.  Hatch  told  Mrs.  Stone,  and  Mrs.  Stone  told  Mrs. 
Sheldon.  Good  by  from  William  Borden.” 

Bill  was  a  boy  through  and  through.  He  was  so 


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active  and  enthusiastic  that  he  was  always  getting  into 
trouble.  He  fell  off  a  wagon  and  sprained  his  wrists, 
slid  down  a  ladder  and  cut  his  hands,  and  was  in  many 
scrapes  that  live  boys  of  his  age  fall  heir  to.  He  saw 
a  bit  of  gang  life,  running  the  streets  with  his  cousin 
and  other  companions.  There  were  fights  and  fights. 
There  was  the  little  candy  shop,  where  the  candy  was 
displayed  in  open  trays,  from  which  these  boys  would 
pilfer  a  piece  when  no  one  was  looking. 

During  this  period,  there  seemed  to  be  an  eagerness 
to  work  hard  at  tasks  that  men  are  engaged  in.  Bill 
toiled  all  day  to  clean  an  old  cider  press,  which  he  had 
been  told  was  too  dirty  for  use  and  could  not  be 
cleaned.  He  worked  by  the  day  with  the  hands  of  a 
strawberry-box  factory  and  did  it  just  for  the  fun. 
When  a  wreck  was  cast  up  on  the  lake  shore,  he  and 
his  cousin  spent  the  day  working  with  the  regular 
laborers  and  were  paid  off  with  the  rest  at  night. 

During  these  early  years,  Bill  went  to  school  in 
Chicago,  attending  several  different  schools  and  doing 
good  scholarship  work  in  them  all.  One  of  these 
schools  was  the  scene  of  an  escapade  which  shows  the 
love  of  adventure  that  characterized  him  as  a  boy. 
He  and  his  cousin  wished  to  get  into  the  school  gym¬ 
nasium  one  Saturday  but  found  the  building  locked 
when  they  reached  the  school.  After  a  short  search, 
they  discovered  the  coal  hole,  through  which  they 
dropped  and  groped  their  way  to  the  gymnasium. 
They  played  there  for  some  time,  took  a  shower  and 
left  without  being  detected. 

When  thirteen  years  old,  Bill  entered  the  Hill 
School.  Here  he  was  much  interested  in  athletics  and 
followed  keenly  the  fortunes  of  the  Hill  teams ;  he 
went  out  for  football  and  was  a  first  team  substitute 


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before  he  left  the  School.  The  scores  of  the  various 
games  figure  often  in  his  letters  home.  He  was  a 
lover  of  all  forms  of  competition  and  enjoyed  every 
sort  of  trick  or  stunt.  A  favorite  one  was  to  stand  on 
his  head  and  in  that  position  drink  a  cup  of  water. 
He  showed  at  this  time  evidence  of  care  of  money. 
To  one  of  his  letters  to  his  father,  he  appends  the 
following  account : 

Football  supplies . $  3.20 

Posters .  1.05 

Contribution .  .50 

Clothes  pressed .  1.00 

Eatables .  .20 

Screw  driver .  .14 

Book  rack .  .20 

Picture  wire .  .20 

Class  paper .  1.90 

Clothes .  1.00 

Eph’s  [restaurant] .  1.00 

Paper  .  .30 

Stamps .  .02 

Eph’s . 10 

Contribution .  1.00 

Window  cushions .  9.98 

Hill  banner .  .50 

Thumb  tacks .  .09 

Car  fare .  .10 

Soda  ••••••••••••  .15 

Pillow .  1.50 

Reading  room  fee .  1.00 

Eph’s  .  .35 

Contribution .  .65 

Stamps .  .10 


$26.23 

His  letters  give  further  glimpses  of  his  school  life : 
a  prize  in  geometry  at  the  close  of  his  first  year ;  secre- 


5 


tary  of  a  debating  club ;  learning  his  oration  and  wish¬ 
ing  the  thing  was  over ;  president  of  the  mission  band 
in  his  sixth  form  year.  He  shows  interest  in  the 
chapel  preachers  and  writes  his  mother  giving  the 
text  and  sketch  of  the  sermons  of  a  number  of  these, 
commenting  in  school  boy  fashion  on  preacher  and 
sermon.  “He  was  great!”  or  “He  was  very  sad!” 
show  the  boyish  yet  positive  manner  in  which  he  sized 
up  some  of  the  speakers. 

In  June  of  1904,  Bill  graduated  from  the  Hill 
School,  in  scholarship  rating  as  one  of  the  first  four 
in  his  class.  Before  entering  Yale,  he  took  a  year’s 
trip  around  the  world  with  an  older  friend.  They 
started  from  the  Borden  summer  home  in  Maine,  in 
early  August  of  1904.  Japan  was  the  first  country 
reached,  after  crossing  the  United  States  and  the 
Pacific.  Here  Bill  first  saw  missionaries  at  work. 
That  he  became  interested  from  the  start  is  evident, 
for  he  gave  to  one  of  them  half  of  an  allowance  he 
had  just  received  from  his  father.  Shortly  after 
reaching  China,  Bill  had  typhoid  fever  and  celebrated 
his  first  Christmas  away  from  home  in  a  hospital  in 
Hongkong.  Fortunately,  his  illness  was  not  severe 
so  that  it  was  not  long  before  he  was  able  to  go  on 
with  the  trip.  The  travelers  moved  on  from  China  to 
India  and  to  Egypt.  Bill’s  interest  in  missions  kept 
growing  as  he  saw  more  distinctly  the  destitution  of 
these  countries  and  the  inadequacy  of  their  religions 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  hearts  of  the  people.  In 
Egypt,  they  saw  Cairo,  the  Nile,  the  Pyramids  and 
Karnak,  and  then  passed  on  to  Constantinople,  Athens, 
Syria  and  Palestine.  They  spent  some  time  in  Swit¬ 
zerland  and  Paris.  In  Switzerland,  Bill  climbed  some 
of  the  mountains  and  was  from  that  time  an  enthusi- 


6 


astic  mountain  climber.  On  a  later  visit,  he  climbed  a 
number  of  the  highest  mountains  in  the  Swiss  Alps. 
In  Paris,  he  took  automobile  lessons  and  became  pro¬ 
ficient  in  driving  a  machine,  though  one  day  he  ran 
into  a  motor-cyclist  and  had  to  pay  a  fine. 

From  France,  Bill  crossed  to  England  and  went  at 
once  to  London.  Dr.  R.  A.  Torrey  was  then  holding 
evangelistic  meetings  in  the  Grand  Hall  on  the  Strand. 
Under  date  of  July  2,  Bill  wrote  in  his  diary:  “I  went 
back  to  Grand  Hall  Strand  at  6.30  when  it  was  already 
quite  well  filled.  Mr.  Alexander  leading.  Fine  address. 
I  was  much  helped  and  surrendered  all  to  Jesus  at  the 
invitation  while  Miss  Davis  was  singing  the  song.  Out 
about  9.30.”  Here  then  is  Bill,  at  seventeen  years  of 
age,  calmly  saying,  “I  was  much  helped  and  surren¬ 
dered  all  to  Jesus.”  He  had  been  following  Christ 
before  this  time,  it  is  true,  but  this  new  decision  meant 
the  complete  consecration  of  his  life  to  Christ.  Bill 
had  been  an  average  Christian  before ;  this  step  made 
it  possible  for  God  to  use  him  as  He  cannot  use  those 
who  are  only  partly  His. 

About  a  month  later,  Bill  arrived  in  Boston.  In  the 
spirit  of  his  new-made  surrender  to  Jesus  Christ,  he 
now  entered  Yale  in  September  of  1905. 


II.  Borden  at  Yale 

Bill  roomed  in  Garland’s,  occupying  a  second  floor 
rear  room  which  served  as  both  bedroom  and  study. 
Garland’s,  in  those  days,  was  one  of  the  sweller  dormi¬ 
tories  for  freshmen.  Pierson  Hall  was  just  opposite, 
while  on  both  sides  of  York  Street  were  a  number  of 
private  dormitories.  Bill  was  thrown  into  the  life  of 


7 


this  large  university  only  a  month  or  two  after  the 
close  of  his  world  tour  and  his  life  decision  for  Christ. 
It  is  no  wonder  if  at  first  he  felt  somewhat  lonely  and 
seemed  to  find  few  friends  of  like  mind.  Everywhere 
about  him  were  the  hustle  and  uncertainty  of  freshman 
beginnings.  There  is  a  sense  of  adjustment  and  of 
feeling  one’s  way  that  pervades  the  atmosphere  during 
the  first  few  days  of  college  life.  It  seemed  as  though 
everyone  used  a  “trot”  and  Sunday  study  was  almost 
universal.  All  this  was  contrary  to  Bill’s  home  train¬ 
ing  and  to  his  own  convictions  as  well. 

In  spite  of  his  natural  feelings  of  loneliness  and 
adjustment,  Bill  was  soon  in  the  thick  of  the  work 
and  play  of  college  life.  He  went  out  for  the  fresh¬ 
man  football  team,  got  in  touch  with  the  religious  work 
of  the  college  and  went  to  work  at  his  studies.  His 
connection  with  the  Christian  Association  was  quickly 
established,  and  he  soon  made  friends  with  others 
who  were  interested  in  the  Cause  of  Christ.  He 
served  on  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  religious 
work  of  his  class  and  soon  stamped  himself  as  a  leader 
in  the  Christian  activities  of  the  college.  In  spite  of 
his  age,  he  was  far  more  mature  in  faith  than  many 
considerably  older.  His  grasp  of  the  fundamentals 
was,  even  at  this  time,  firm  and  assured.  He  had 
already  decided  to  become  a  foreign  missionary.  A 
fixed  purpose  of  this  sort  gives  a  man  a  great  single¬ 
ness  of  aim  that  steadies  not  only  himself,  but  those 
with  whom  he  is  thrown  in  contact,  and  Bill’s  char¬ 
acter  had  a  solidity  about  it  directly  traceable  to  his 
surrender  to  Christ  for  a  life  of  service  among  un¬ 
christianized  peoples.  Interested  as  he  was  in  football 
and  in  all  the  wholesome  activities  of  college,  Bill  let 
it  be  known  with  no  uncertainty  that  his  heart  was 


8 


first  in  the  service  of  his  Master.  He  was  evangelistic 
in  spirit  from  the  beginning  of  his  college  course,  ever 
watching  for  opportunities  for  spreading  the  faith  he 
believed  so  firmly  himself.  An  illustration  of  this 
occurred  in  freshman  year.  He  found  that  a  student, 
whom  he  had  known  before  he  entered  Yale,  was 
drifting  into  open  and  flagrant  sin  and  Bill  set  about 
reaching  him  with  Christ’s  message  of  salvation.  He 
learned  that  his  friend  had  gone  to  Savin  Rock  one 
evening  and  went  after  him.  He  found  him  in  some 
low  dive  in  company  with  a  woman  of  the  street.  In 
some  way,  almost  by  force,  Bill  managed  to  get  hold 
of  his  friend  and  bring  him  back  to  New  Haven. 
Perhaps  he  did  not  use  just  the  same  strong-arm 
methods  in  later  years,  but  he  always  sought  with  just 
the  same  earnestness  to  lead  men  to  a  saving  knowl¬ 
edge  of  Christ.  This  was  never  easy  for  him,  and  his 
letters  tell  of  times  when  his  courage  failed  and  he 
did  not  embrace  the  opportunities  that  came  to  him. 

Football  season  was  now  over  and  Bill  had  failed 
to  make  the  team.  He  had  practiced  hard  throughout 
the  season  and  was  a  first  substitute  for  a  line  posi¬ 
tion.  During  the  winter,  Bill  spent  his  time  of  exer¬ 
cise  wrestling  in  the  gymnasium.  He  liked  nothing 
better  than  to  have  his  face  rubbed  in  the  wrestling 
mat  or  to  be  rubbing  someone’s  else  face  in  it.  He 
was  a  hard  man  to  down,  and,  though  he  never  made 
the  wrestling  team,  he  was  well  up  with  the  best  of  his 
weight. 

In  February  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  held 
its  quadrennial  conference  at  Nashville,  and  Bill  was 
one  of  the  Yale  delegation  to  attend.  Studies  were 
dropped  for  the  time,  and  the  trip  was  made  by  special 
train,  crowded  with  delegates  from  many  colleges  and 


9 


universities.  Bill  always  had  much  superfluous  energy 
to  get  rid  of  and  did  this  on  the  trip  by  roughhouse 
and  rather  violent  games  which  originated  often  from 
his  fertile  brain.  The  baggage  car  proved  to  be  the  only 
available  place  for  extended  activity,  and  to  it  a  num¬ 
ber  of  the  delegates  resorted  for  games  of  “hot-hand,” 
high-kicking  contests  and  other  such  games. 

Arrived  at  Nashville,  the  delegates  separated  for 
the  various  homes  in  which  they  were  to  be  enter¬ 
tained.  About  four  thousand  accredited  delegates 
attended  this  conference,  coming  from  colleges  and 
universities  in  every  part  of  the  country.  The  great 
hall  accommodated  nearly  five  thousand  and  was 
crowded  each  meeting.  Here  Bill  spent  a  week  of 
intense  interest.  The  speakers  on  inspirational  and 
missionary  subjects  were  all  of  the  best,  and  each  had 
its  own  appeal.  Still,  out  of  the  many-sided,  world¬ 
wide  pictures,  Bill  was  particularly  interested  in  what 
he  heard  of  the  Moslems.  S.  M.  Zwemer  of  Arabia 
spoke  a  number  of  times  on  the  Mohammedan  coun¬ 
tries,  and  Bill  was  usually  present.  The  Moslem  prob¬ 
lem  gripped  him  to  such  an  extent  that  his  interest  in 
it  was  very  keen  from  this  time  on.  He  had  been 
looking  forward  to  being  a  missionary  in  China,  but 
now  began  to  think  seriously  about  going  to  Arabia  or 
some  other  Mohammedan  country. 

On  the  return  journey,  a  side  trip  was  made  to  the 
Mammoth  Cave.  Soon,  however,  all  the  Yale  men 
were  back  in  New  Haven  and  hard  at  work  making 
up  for  lost  time.  The  conference  made  a  very  deep 
impression  on  the  delegates  from  Yale.  Many  saw  at 
Nashville  something  of  the  world  vision  that  Bill  had 
gained  in  his  trip  around  the  world.  Missionary  activi¬ 
ties  in  the  college  took  on  new  life.  The  churches  of 


10 


New  Haven  and  vicinity  were  visited  by  groups  of 
two  or  three  returned  delegates,  who  told  briefly  about 
the  conference  and  its  call  to  world  evangelization. 
Bill,  with  two  others,  formed  one  of  the  teams  which 
visited  three  of  the  New  Haven  churches.  He  writes 
home  about  failure  in  speaking  at  one  of  these 
churches  and  attributes  the  failure  to  “pride  and 
ambition  inside.” 

In  the  spring  of  1906,  Mr.  Borden  died  in  Chicago. 
This  was  a  very  heavy  loss  for  Bill,  who  had  loved  his 
father  greatly.  This  sad  event  also  brought  new 
responsibilities  into  his  life.  He  was  only  eighteen  and 
a  half  years  old  but  bore  the  added  cares  with  great 
patience.  Mrs.  Borden  was  in  poor  health  for  a  time, 
which  further  added  to  Bill’s  responsibilities.  Quietly 
he  assumed  all  such  cares  and  faithfully  attended  to 
them  in  addition  to  his  own  work  at  college.  There 
seemed  to  be  no  worry  or  friction  with  it  all.  Surely 
it  was  his  life  purpose  of  allegiance  to  Christ  that 
enabled  Bill  to  live  so  quietly  and  serenely,  bearing 
other’s  burdens,  as  well  as  his  own,  in  the  spirit  of 
Him  who  bears  our  burdens  and  makes  smooth  the 
rough  places  for  our  feet. 

The  summer  of  freshman  year  was  spent  in  Cam¬ 
den,  Maine,  where  the  Borden  summer  home  is 
located.  The  house  stands  well  up  above  the  water, 
overlooking  Penobscot  Bay,  with  its  many  islands. 
Ocean,  lakes  and  mountains  are  all  near  by  and  there 
is  opportunity  for  almost  every  kind  of  outdoor 
recreation.  Golf,  tennis,  fishing,  swimming,  boating 
and  especially  sailing  the  sloop,  Tsatsazmssa — all 
had  their  share  in  making  the  vacation  a  happy  and 
healthy  one.  Bill  enjoyed  particularly  a  two  or  three 
days’  cruise.  Once  he  sailed  to  Deer  Island  to  pick 


11 


up  a  classmate  and  cruised  with  him  from  there  to  Bar 
Harbor.  Coming  by  Mount  Desert,  an  off-shore  squall 
struck  the  boat,  with  all  sail  set,  and  threatened  to  tear 
out  the  mast.  It  was  a  sight  to  see  Bill  throwing  every 
ounce  of  his  truly  unusual  strength  on  the  wheel  in 
his  endeavor  to  keep  the  boat  pointing  far  enough 
off-shore.  The  result  of  all  this  was  the  boat 
heeled  over  so  far  that  his  classmate,  who  was  trying 
to  get  the  jib  down,  went  up  to  his  waist  in  water. 

Even  in  this  vacation  time,  following  on  his  fresh¬ 
man  year,  Bill  showed  a  sense  of  balance,  that  was 
further  evidence  of  unusual  maturity.  He  had  decided 
to  anticipate  a  French  course  and  stuck  to  the  summer 
work  this  necessitated  with  a  perseverance  that  all 
who  have  tried  such  summer  work  can  appreciate. 
Nor  did  Bill  take  a  holiday  in  his  work  for  Christ. 
He  spoke  at  open-air  Y.  M.  C.  A.  services  and  at 
Christian  Endeavor  and  other  church  meetings.  He 
told  the  drunken  gardener  about  Christ  and  had  the 
joy  of  seeing  this  man  finding  peace  and  respectability 
in  Him.  Bilks  faith  was  deepened,  and  he  returnejd 
from  his  vacation  praising  Him  who  had  promised  that 
He,  if  He  were  lifted  up,  would  draw  all  men  unto 
Himself. 

During  sophomore  year  he  roomed  in  the  “Hutchin¬ 
son”  on  Crown  Street.  His  roommates  were  of  a  dif¬ 
ferent  type  from  Bill.  No  doubt  he  had  chosen  them 
with  the  hope  and  prayer  that  he  might  lead  them 
closer  to  his  Master.  He  had  determined  to  do  better 
scholarship  work  in  sophomore  year  than  as  a  fresh¬ 
man,  as  he  had  not  been  satisfied  with  his  first  year’s 
work.  He  was  anxious  to  make  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and 
set  out  to  do  it.  He  wanted  to  play  football,  but  gave 
up  the  game  at  his  mother’s  request.  His  interest  in 


12 


the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  quickened,  if  anything,  and  he 
increasingly  gave  time  and  thought  to  this  work.  He 
seemed  to  find  time  for  regular  exercise  and  many 
other  things  besides  his  studying. 

The  society  question  was  prominent  in  his  thoughts 
at  this  time.  The  junior  fraternities  were  soon  to  give 
out  their  first  elections.  Much  prayer  and  thought  and 
consultation  on  this  matter  only  served  to  deepen 
Bill’s  belief  that  he  should  not  accept  election  if  it 
was  offered  to  him,  and  he  let  his  decision  be  known. 
How  bitter  the  mental  struggle  was,  any  Yale  man  can 
picture  to  himself.  Bill  occupied  a  position  of  real 
prominence  which  undoubtedly  would  have  made  him 
an  early  choice  for  a  fraternity.  His  brother  and 
uncle  had  both  been  fraternity  and  senior  society  men, 
so  Bill  had.  an  inheritance  which  would  naturally 
attract  him  to  the  fraternities.  Further  than  this,  his 
close  friends  in  college,  many  of  them  earnest  Chris¬ 
tian  men,  were  expecting  to  accept  fraternity  election 
should  this  be  offered  them.  Yet  Bill  stood  firm  in 
his  decision.  It  may  be  that  the  average  Yale  under¬ 
graduate  will  be  moved  to  exclaim  in  disgust,  “What 
foolishness  have  we  here!”  It  is  well  to  consider  care¬ 
fully  before  judgment  is  pronounced.  Yale  man,  if 
you  thought  such  a  stand  was  right,  yet  knew  that  you 
were  practically  certain  of  early  election  to  any  fra¬ 
ternity  you  wished,  would  you  have  the  courage  to 
take  the  stand  Bill  did?  Here  was  no  ordinary  cour¬ 
age.  Here  was  the  conviction  that  for  Bill  Borden  it 
was  not  right  to  be  a  fraternity  man  and,  with  the 
conviction,  the  courage  to  abide  by  it  came  to  him. 

What  reason  could  there  be  for  such  a  decision? 
Back  in  London  more  than  two  years  before,  Bill  had 
given  himself  to  a  Master  for  life  service.  The  bond 


13 


between  him  and  his  Master  had  become  stronger  and 
stronger,  and  he  did  not  wish  any  secret  fraternity 
bond  to  come  into  his  life  lest  it  might  weaken  the 
bond  of  friendship  with  Christ.  Bill  was  always  out 
in  the  open.  It  seemed  like  walking  in  the  dark  to 
join  a  secret  organization.  How  real  the  struggle  of 
it  all  was,  only  his  mother  and  a  few  others  in  some 
small  measure  saw,  but  calmly  he  made  the  decision 
which  some  said  would  cut  him  off  from  his  position 
and  influence  entirely.  As  a  classmate  wrote  about 
this  decision,  “Bill  was  willing  to  be  ‘a  fool  for  Christ’s 
sake,’  and  many  people  thought  him  such.” 

Shortly  before  the  time  of  the  first  fraternity  elec¬ 
tions,  Bill  had  been  elected  one  of  the  four  class 
deacons.  He  became  increasingly  earnest  in  the  work 
of  the  Christian  Association.  Mission  study  and  Bible 
study  had  his  enthusiastic  support.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  winter  term,  W.  J.  Dawson  conducted  a  series 
of  special  meetings  at  Yale.  Something  he  said  sug¬ 
gested  to  John  Magee,  ’06,  then  general  secretary  qf 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  idea  of  a  rescue  mission  connected 
with  the  work  of  the  Association.  He  went  to  Bill 
and  the  two  worked  out  the  matter  with  the  result  that 
the  Yale  Hope  Mission  was  started.  This  mission  has 
since  served  the  double  purpose  of  a  place  of  refuge 
and  salvation  for  the  hopeless  bum  of  the  streets  and 
as  a  concrete  evidence  to  the  students  themselves  of 
the  power  of  Christianity  to  save.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  chief  responsibility  for  this  mission  rested 
upon  Bill. 

All  this  time  there  were  the  regular  studies  and  the 
daily  times  of  exercise.  Bill  was  not  a  one-sided  man 
at  all,  even  though  the  casual  observer  may  have 
stamped  him  as  such.  Body,  mind  and  spirit  came  to 


14 


their  own  in  his  well-rounded  character.  Too  often 
the  important  claims  of  the  spirit  are  ignored,  and  this 
always  results  in  real  narrowness.  In  spite  of  this, 
there  are  many  who  seem  to  be  content  to  live  their 
lives  without  developing  qualities  of  heart  and  soul, 
which  are,  after  all,  the  most  important. 

Bill  was  back  at  college  ready  for  hard  work  at  the 
beginning  of  junior  year.  True  to  his  determination 
to  raise  his  stand  during  sophomore  year  he  had  suc¬ 
ceeded  and  could  look  forward  with  practical  cer¬ 
tainty  to  election  to  Phi  Beta  Kappa.  He  took  up 
rowing  and  made  his  class  crew.  In  the  Fall  Regatta 
on  Lake  Whitney  his  crew  won  the  class  championship. 
He  roomed  now  in  White  Hall.  Some  of  his  best 
friends  lived  near  by.  It  was  a  favorite  pastime  to 
arouse  Bill,  to  get  him  into  a  good  roughhouse;  not 
because  anyone  had  a  chance  with  him,  but  because  it 
was  really  awe-inspiring  to  see  him  actually  get  going. 
He  would  tear  around  the  room  like  a  cyclone,  com¬ 
pletely  overthrowing  all  who  came  in  his  way.  With 
his  knowledge  of  wrestling  and  his  unusual  strength, 
the  average  man  found  himself  quite  helpless.  It  was 
interesting  to  notice  that  such  a  roughhouse  did  not 
upset  Bill’s  equilibrium  for  the  evening.  He  would, 
after  such  times,  quiet  down  and  turn  to  his  work  with 
little  waste  time.  It  was  just  this  sense  of  balance 
that  enabled  him  to  carry  the  many  different  tasks  he 
did. 

He  was  interested  in  many  phases  of  religious  work. 
He  was  active  in  the  Volunteer  Band,  in  Bible  and 
mission  study  and  in  the  Yale  Hope  Mission.  He 
attended  a  daily  prayer  group  this  year  as  in  the  two 
previous  ones.  It  was  in  a  group  such  as  this  that  his 
earnest,  assured  faith  showed  most  brightly.  There 


15 


was  always  someone  whom  he  desired  to  see  come  to 
the  saving  and  abiding  presence  of  Christ,  and  for 
whom  he  would  ask  prayer.  His  simple  faith  in  the 
Bible  and  its  promises  was  evident  to  all  who  were 
with  him  in  such  gatherings  as  this  and  heard  him  read 
from  the  Bible  and  comment  upon  it.  A  classmate 
writes  what  many  others  thought  about  Bill  and  his 
power  of  working  and  accomplishing.  “I  say  he  let 
me  work  alongside  of  him,  but  what  I  did  can’t  be 
called  work  when  one  is  speaking  of  Bill.  I  had  one 
puny  little  Bible  class  which  I  kept  up  but  poorly  and 
into  which  I  put  but  little,  either  of  time  or  enthu¬ 
siasm.  Bill  did  an  enormous  amount  of  work.  My 
share  consisted  in  going  to  meetings  and  taking  part 
when  occasion  demanded  and  in  worrying  along  with 
this  group  for  Bible  study.  Bill’s  share  consisted  in 
conducting  at  least  two  such  classes,  in  helping  to  get 
the  Hope  Mission  started  and  in  doing  countless 
things  which  I  never  dreamed  were  going  on.  I  re¬ 
member  how  he  used  to  work  over  various  men  in  the 
class  he  thought  were  going  wrong.  Do  you  remember 
the  way  Joe  Twichell  said  to  us  once,  ‘As  for  that 
man  Borden,  he’d  go  out  after  the  worst  skunk  in  the 
class’  ?” 

Towards  the  close  of  the  junior  year,  the  senior 
society  elections  found  Bill  in  the  same  frame  of  mind 
regarding  accepting  election  to  a  secret  organization. 
He  was,  however,  offered  an  election  to  the  Elihu 
Club  and  accepted. 

In  June  of  this  year  Bill  attended  the  Northfield 
Conference  with  the  Yale  delegation.  He  had 
attended  these  summer  conferences  regularly  and  had 
been  active  in  the  delegations.  He  was  essentially 
democratic  and  waited  on  the  table  at  several  of  these 


16 


conferences.  He  taught  a  Bible  class  and  worked 
hard  in  the  interest  of  missions.  He  also  took  part  in 
the  ball  games  and  other  sports  which  are  a  great 
feature  of  the  afternoons  at  Northfield. 

Bill  spent  part  of  the  summer  vacation  in  Chicago, 
where  he  gained  some  experience  in  business,  and 
part  in  Europe,  where  he  went  primarily  to  attend  his 
sister’s  wedding  in  Switzerland.  He  enjoyed  the  busi¬ 
ness  experience  and  said  he  could  easily  have  become 
engrossed  in  ordinary  business.  When  college  opened 
for  his  senior  year,  Mrs.  Borden  took  a  house  in  New 
Haven  for  the  winter.  Bill,  however,  lived  again  on 
The  Oval.  It  was  during  this  year  that  his  close 
friends  were  able  to  realize  better  how  many  extra 
cares  he  had  which  the  average  undergraduate  never 
even  thinks  about.  His  mother’s  health  was  not  good 
and  Bill’s  loving  care  of  her  was  very  noticeable 
throughout  the  year.  On  November  1,  Bill  came  of 
age  and  into  actual  possession  of  his  fortune.  For  a 
careless  man  this  would  have  meant  little  additional 
burden,  but  for  an  earnest  man  it  meant  real  responsi¬ 
bility.  His  money  was  a  trust  and  he  the  steward,  who 
must  give  careful  account  of  the  use  of  the  trust.  He 
belonged  to  God  and,  of  course,  his  money  did  too. 
So  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  flippant  in  his  use 
of  money. 

Bill  spent  the  Christmas  vacation  at  Lake  Placid  in 
the  Adirondacks,  where  he  invited  a  number  of  friends 
to  spend  some  days  with  him.  He  was  on  his  vacation 
and  he  entered  into  the  good  times  as  he  knew  how  to 
do  so  well.  Tobogganing,  tramping  and  indoor  games, 
or  whatever  else  it  might  be,  Bill  was  in  the  thick  of  it. 
It  was  a  great  party  and  his  rare  social  gifts  and  un¬ 
selfishness  were  ever  in  evidence. 


17 


Senior  year  was  a  very  happy  one  in  many  ways  and 
a  busy  one  too.  Life  was  looming  large,  with  the 
college  course  so  nearly  completed.  Bill  had  long  ago 
settled  the  foreign  mission  question  and  was  now 
hoping  to  be  able  to  go  to  the  Moslems  of  China.  It 
had  been  interesting  for  him  to  learn  that  there  were 
some  millions  of  Mohammedans  there,  for  he  now  saw 
the  chance  of  going  to  China  and  yet  tackling  the 
Moslem  question  at  the  same  time.  He  had  his  atten¬ 
tion  directed  especially  to  the  northwestern  part  of 
China,  where  the  Mohammedans  were  most  numerous, 
but  to  which  only  a  few  missionaries  had  as  yet  gone. 
This  attracted  him  the  more,  because  he  had  a  desire 
to  do  pioneer  work,  if  God  so  willed. 

The  Yale  Hope  Mission  had  now  expanded  from  the 
one  rented  room,  where  the  services  were  held,  to  the 
entire  building  which  was  now  owned,  largely  through 
Bill’s  generosity.  The  major  part  of  the  building  was 
used  as  an  inexpensive  hotel  for  those  who  were  in 
search  of  clean  lodging.  It  was  named  the  “Hotel 
Martin”  after  “Daddy  Martin,”  a  reformed  drunkard 
who  had  been  associated  with  the  Mission  from  its 
founding.  Every  year  there  were  many  who  heard 
Christ  preached  in  the  Mission  and  found  Him  able  to 
save  to  the  uttermost. 

The  social  life  during  senior  year  was  much  the 
same  as  in  previous  years.  Bill  was  the  same  happy, 
lovable  fellow,  though  there  were  always  those  who 
thought  him  a  little  cold  and  severe ;  and  so  he  did 
seem  at  times  to  those  who  did  not  really  know  him. 
He  had  a  great  heart  of  love  underneath,  which  any 
who  have  felt  his  hearty  slap  on  the  back  or  his  arm 
about  their  shoulders  can  vouch  for.  His  impetuous 
way  of  going  into  things  did  one  good.  If  there  was 


18 


a  car  to  be  caught,  a  game  to  be  played,  or  anything 
else  to  be  done,  Bill  was  the  first  to  be  about  the 
doing  of  it. 

Bill  had  made  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  was  elected 
president  of  that  organization  in  his  senior  year.  This 
was  one  of  the  many  evidences  that  his  stand  on  the 
fraternity  question  had  not  hurt  his  influence  or  popu¬ 
larity.  In  this  year  it  fell  to  Bill’s  lot,  as  president,  to 
preside  at  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  banquet.  It  was  a 
striking  illustration  of  his  poise  and  maturity  to  see 
how  naturally  and  appropriately  he  acted  and  spoke 
on  this  occasion. 

After  the  final  examinations  were  taken,  there  was 
a  gap  of  four  days  before  Commencement.  Bill,  with 
three  classmates,  went  to  Camden,  planning  to  sail  the 
Tsatsawassa  back  to  New  Haven.  In  spite  of  sailing 
night  and  day,  prevailing  head  winds  or  calm  made 
this  impossible,  so  that  the  sailors  only  reached  the 
southern  side  of  Cape  Cod,  where  they  had  to  put 
ashore  and  take  the  train  back  to  New  Haven. 

With  Commencement  time  past  and  college  days 
over,  a  happy  and  busy  ten  days  were  put  in  at  North- 
field,  followed  by  a  summer  at  Camden.  Here  the 
same  mixture  of  open-air,  active  life,  combined  with 
work  of  a  more  serious  nature,  was  in  evidence.  There 
were  open-air  meetings  in  the  town  and  in  a  near-by 
recreation  park.  There  were  long  cruises,  sailing 
races,  golf,  tennis  and  swimming.  One  cruise  was 
made  at  night  in  a  gale,  in  which  the  tender  was  lost, 
but  the  Tsatsawassa  came  through  safely.  Another 
cruise  was  made  to  Nova  Scotia. 


19 


III.  At  Princeton  Seminary 


Bill  had  been  asked  to  return  for  another  year  as 
university  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  His  earnest 
evangelistic  spirit,  coupled  with  unusual  ability  for 
executive  work,  made  this  selection  a  good  one;  but 
Bill  had  his  heart  set  on  reaching  his  life  work  and  he 
could  not  bear  to  think  of  putting  this  off  a  year. 
Moreover,  though  his  convictions  in  the  fundamental 
doctrines  were  strong,  he  confessed  that  he  had  been 
troubled  by  a  number  of  questions  during  his  college 
course  and  was  very  anxious  to  get  to  his  seminary 
work,  when  he  would  have  time  to  study  into  these 
questions  and  settle  them  as  far  as  possible.  So  he 
decided  that  he  would  not  return  as  university 
secretary. 

In  the  fall  he  entered  Princeton  Seminary  and  was 
soon  hard  at  work.  He  lived  at  home,  as  Mrs.  Bftrden 
lived  in  Princeton  during  the  three  years  of  his  semi¬ 
nary  course.  Bill  took  the  full  first-year  course  and 
several  extra-curriculum  courses, — among  these  being 
Arabic.  He  felt  that  he  would  be  better  prepared  for 
his  work  in  China,  if  he  knew  the  language  of  the 
Koran  and  of  the  people  to  whom  the  Prophet  had 
belonged.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  outlined  with 
Professor  Beach  of  Yale  a  course  of  study  in  missions, 
looking  forward  to  the  M.  A.  degree.  There  was 
nothing  halfway  about  such  a  preparation.  It  was 
deep  and  thoroughgoing. 

Bill  entered  upon  three  years  of  busy,  happy  life  at 
the  Seminary.  The  studies  were  absorbing  and  the 
social  life  congenial.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Ben- 
ham  Club,  the  oldest  eating  club  of  the  Seminary.  He 
played  most  of  the  games,  but  was  especially  fond  of 


20 


tennis.  He  was  a  leader  among  the  student  volunteers 
of  the  Seminary  and  was  always  present  at  the  early 
morning  prayer  service  of  the  Volunteer  Band  each 
Wednesday. 

In  addition  to  the  duties  and  pleasures  that  centered 
about  his  life  in  the  Seminary,  Bill  had  many  respon¬ 
sibilities  outside  Princeton  itself.  In  the  fall  of  1909 
he  had  been  made  a  trustee  of  the  Moody  Bible  Insti¬ 
tute  in  Chicago.  In  the  spring  of  1910  he  was 
appointed  delegate  to  the  Edinburgh  Missionary  Con¬ 
ference  by  the  China  Inland  Mission  and  in  the  fall 
was  made  one  of  the  directors  of  the  National  Bible 
Institute  of  New  York  City.  He  also  became  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  American  Council  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission  and  of  the  American  Committee  of  the  Nile 
Mission  Press.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  calls  on  his 
time  would  be  many.  There  are  not  many  men  of  his 
age  who  could  so  well  have  handled  the  many  duties 
that  pressed  upon  him  from  many  quarters.  His 
singleness  of  purpose  helped  him  and  gave  such  direc¬ 
tion  to  his  life  that  no  one,  even  among  his  best  friends, 
saw  anything  but  quiet,  consistent,  and  unhurried  doing 
of  each  task  that  fell  to  him.  Almost  every  month  he 
went  to  New  Haven  to  look  over  the  work  of  the  Yale 
Hope  Mission.  The  unusual  feature  of  his  relation¬ 
ship  to  all  such  organizations  was  that  he  was  never 
satisfied  with  merely  giving  generous  financial  aid. 
In  addition,  he  always  gave  time,  thought  and  counsel, 
and  he  usually  conducted  a  service  at  the  Mission 
when  he  went  to  New  Haven.  New  Haven,  New 
York  and  Chicago  trips  succeeded  one  another  and  still 
he  never  seemed  to  neglect  his  work,  though  he  carried 
a  much  heavier  schedule  than  the  average  man.  More 
than  that,  he  stood  very  high  in  his  scholarship. 


21 


Life  at  Princeton  was  brightened  by  the  happy  home 
influences  that  surrounded  him.  The  Borden  home 
was  hospitably  open  to  all.  Students,  missionaries  and 
prominent  lay  workers  were  frequent  visitors.  The 
tennis  court  back  of  the  house  was  the  scene  of  many 
hotly  contested  games.  In  spite  of  his  busy  life,  Bill 
never  neglected  his  body.  He  made  it  a  point  to  get  an 
hour’s  exercise  daily  if  it  was  possible.  How  his  eyes 
would  light  up  at  the  prospect  of  a  good  game  of 
tennis!  Back  he  would  come  from  a  class,  hustle  into 
his  tennis  clothes  and  then  out  to  the  court.  He  was 
never  more  than  an  average  tennis  player,  but  he 
played  hard  all  the  time  and  gave  his  opponent  plenty 
of  work. 

He  was  careful  not  to  neglect  his  morning  and 
evening  devotions.  Though  his  classroom  work  was 
along  religious  lines,  he  never  substituted  it  for  the 
personal  devotion  and  prayer  that  is  absolutely  essen¬ 
tial  to  the  Christian.  It  was  his  custom  to  read  a 
chapter  from  the  New  Testament  in  the  morning  and 
two  chapters  from  the  Old  Testament  in  the  evening. 
He  did  so  because  in  this  way  he  would  be  able  to  read 
the  entire  Bible  once  each  year.  And  what  is  more,  he 
seems  to  have  stuck  faithfully  to  his  program. 

Bill  spent  the  summer  of  1910  in  Europe.  He  first 
attended  the  World’s  Missionary  Conference  in  Edin¬ 
burgh.  Following  that  he  went  to  Norway  to  visit 
some  friends.  From  Norway  Bill  proceeded  to  Ger¬ 
many  and  spent  a  month  there  studying  the  language. 
He  had  taken  a  year’s  work  in  German  at  Yale,  and 
felt  he  could  pick  up  a  good  deal  of  the  spoken  lan¬ 
guage,  if  he  could  live  in  Germany  for  a  short  time. 
So  he  spent  a  month,  living  with  a  German  family,  and 
he  certainly  made  remarkable  progress.  A  Yale  class- 


22 


mate,  whom  Bill  met  in  Switzerland  just  after  his  stay 
in  Germany,  found  him  carrying  on  a  good  conversa¬ 
tion  with  those  with  whom  he  had  occasion  to  talk  in 
German.  His  mastery  of  the  language  was  far  from 
complete,  but  still  he  had  a  speaking  knowledge  of  it 
that  many  a  tourist  would  have  envied.  This  was 
characteristic  of  Bill.  He  was  gifted  with  the  ability  of 
seeing  a  thing,  believing  it  was  good  and  then  going 
ahead  and  doing  it.  Once  started,  he  rarely  stopped 
before  he  had  finished  what  he  set  out  to  accomplish. 

Bill  spent  several  days  in  Lucerne,  where  he  gave 
himself  up  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  sights  and  sports 
of  the  place.  It  was  at  times  such  as  this  that  the 
social  qualities  of  Bill  were  seen  to  advantage.  He 
had  a  fertile  imagination,  a  fund  of  ideas,  and  an 
enthusiasm  that  was  contagious.  On  Sunday  he 
attended  the  morning  and  afternoon  services  of  the 
little  Scotch  mission  church ;  and  for  anyone  who 
knew  Bill’s  habits  of  giving,  it  was  easy  to  tell  where 
the  twenty-franc  piece  came  from  as  it  lay  in  the  plate 
each  service,  equaling  perhaps  the  entire  remaining 
collection. 

In  the  matter  of  giving,  Bill  always  followed  the 
injunction,  “Let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy 
right  hand  doeth.”  He  insisted  that  not  even  his 
initials  should  be  put  with  a  gift,  when  a  list  of  bene¬ 
factions  was  printed.  He  always  asked  that  a  gift  of 
his  should  not  be  made  public.  It  almost  seemed  to 
irritate  him  when  he  was  found  out.  His  best  friends 
never  knew  even  a  small  percentage  of  the  gifts  he  was 
making.  Many  surprising  incidents  could  be  told,  if 
all  who  have  been  helped  by  him  could  be  induced  to 
tell  their  stories.  Bill’s  check  book  would  show  how 
little  he  spent  for  himself  and  how  much  he  was  con- 

23 


stantly  giving  to  others.  With  it  all,  he  gave  wisely 
and  conducted  his  financial  affairs  in  a  businesslike 
fashion. 

Sailing  on  the  Minneapolis  of  the  Atlantic  Transport 
Line  in  September,  1910,  Bill  was  soon  back  at  his 
work  in  the  Seminary.  It  was  on  this  ocean  voyage 
that  he  copied  the  poem  entitled  “A  Morning  Prayer,” 
which  he  kept  among  his  favorite  poems : 

Guard  me  for  yet  another  day, 

For  life  is  new  with  morning’s  ray; 

And  foes  are  strange,  untrod  the  way, 

Guard  me  through  this  an  unknown  day. 

Gird  me  for  this  another  day, 

Though  guarded,  I  must  fight  and  pray, 

Teach  me  to  draw  my  sword  or  stay: 

O  gird,  while  guarding  me  to-day. 

Guide  me  for  yet  another  day : 

Guarded  and  girded,  yet  I  stray, 

Find  paths  for  me,  and  I  obey : 

Guard,  gird,  and  guide  me  one  more  day. 

Guard,  gird,  and  guide  me  every  day, 

So  when  all  things  of  time  decay, 

In  morn  of  heaven,  by  grace,  I  may 
Enter  thy  perfectness  of  Day. 

Seminary  work  was  completed  and  Bill  graduated  in 
May,  1912.  About  a  month  before  this  time,  he  had 
offered  himself  to  the  China  Inland  Mission  for  work 
in  China  and  had  been  accepted  as  one  of  their  mis¬ 
sionaries.  After  leaving  the  Seminary,  Bill  spent  part 
of  the  summer  doing  executive  work  for  the  National 
Bible  Institute  so  that  the  president  of  the  organization 
could  take  a  much  needed  rest.  On  September  21  he 
was  ordained  in  the  Moody  Church  in  Chicago. 


24 


For  the  next  three  months  he  traveled  among  the 
colleges  as  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Student  Volun¬ 
teer  Movement.  The  list  of  colleges  and  universities 
which  he  visited  occupies  considerable  space  and  bears 
witness  to  his  activity  during  this  short  time.  The 
secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  the  University  of 
Virginia  pictures  what  must  have  been  repeated  at 
many  of  the  other  colleges  Bill  visited.  “Mr.  Borden 
has  come  and  gone.  His  visit  was  an  inspiring  one. 
His  deep  spiritual  life,  his  splendid  preparation  for 
service  and  his  absolute  dedication  to  the  missionary 
cause  have  made  a  lasting  impression  on  our  leaders. 
In  his  quiet  and  unassuming  way  he  met  our  men, 
presented  the  claims  of  the  foreign  field  and  gave  help¬ 
ful  counsel  to  the  members  of  the  Missionary  Com¬ 
mittee.  The  most  helpful  and  abiding  feature  of  his 
visit,  however,  was  the  quiet,  pervading  influence  of 
his  personality  and  of  a  life  consecrated  to  the  Master’s 
cause.  We  know  that  our  University  has  been  blessed 
by  having  Borden  in  our  midst  and  that  the  missionary 
cause  has  been  materially  strengthened.” 

IV.  The  Final  Year 

Bill’s  active  service  in  America  was  finished,  and  the 
time  had  come  for  him  to  leave  the  United  States  for 
some  final  preparation  and  then  proceed  to  China.  He 
had  been  appointed  to  the  province  of  Kansu  in  north¬ 
western  China.  This  province  lies  south  of  Mongolia 
and  northeast  of  Tibet  and  contains  more  Mohamme¬ 
dans  than  any  other  province  in  China.  Marshall 
Broomhall,  in  his  “Islam  in  China,”  places  the  number 
at  from  two  million  to  three  million  five  hundred 
thousand.  Before  going  to  China,  Bill  planned  to  do 


25 


further  studying  in  Cairo.  On  December  17,  1912,  he 
sailed  from  New  York  on  the  Mauretania.  In  spite 
of  eagerness  to  get  to  his  work  it  caused  him  real 
sorrow  to  leave  his  own  country,  friends,  and  espe¬ 
cially  his  mother  and  sister.  Still  there  was  nothing 
of  this  evident  as  he  stood  on  the  deck  of  the  steamer 
that  evening.  He  never  looked  better,  or  more  calm 
and  peaceful.  He  wrote  at  this  time:  “But  it  is  not 
easy.  There  are  many  temptations  and  adversaries. 
Pray  that  I  may  have  the  strength.”  He  landed  in 
England  and  spent  Christmas  in  the  home  of  Mr. 
Robert  P.  Wilder  in  London,  whence  he  journeyed  to 
Cairo,  crossing  Europe  to  Brindisi,  where  he  took  a 
steamer  to  Port  Said. 

Arrived  in  Cairo  Bill  settled  down  to  steady  hard 
work  of  many  kinds.  His  classes  were  chiefly  in 
Arabic  and  in  the  study  of  Islam.  Cairo,  as  the  intel¬ 
lectual  center  of  Islam,  afforded  splendid  opportunities 
for  just  such  work.  Study,  however,  filled  only  a  part 
of  the  time.  He  had  the  chance  of  doing  missionary 
work  at  first  hand,  and  he  was  not  the  man  to  let  the 
opportunity  pass.  He  saw  the  great  Mohammedan 
university  of  the  city,  watched  the  work  of  the  older 
missionaries,  and  helped  in  every  possible  way.  He 
spoke  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  where  he  roomed  at  first, 
and  took  part  in  the  English  services  in  the  various 
missions. 

He  began  to  wear  a  fez  and  found  this  simple 
change  was  sufficient  to  keep  the  natives  from  staring 
at  him ;  for  many  of  the  people  themselves,  except  for 
such  a  fez,  wore  European  clothes.  Later  he  con¬ 
ceived  the  plan  of  distributing  Christian  leaflets,  called 
“Khutbas,”  throughout  the  whole  city.  Obtaining  a 
good  map  of  Cairo,  he  divided  the  city  into  sections 


26 


which  were  to  be  covered  systematically  by  seminary 
students  of  the  American  Mission  and  himself.  He 
paid  for  most  of  these  leaflets  and  was  active  in  the 
actual  work  of  distribution. 

To  facilitate  the  study  of  the  language,  he  moved  to 
the  home  of  Mr.  Haasoun,  a  Syrian  Christian.  He 
describes  his  new  quarters  as  follows :  “The  work  of 
the  Study  Center  continues  to  be  most  interesting  and 
instructive,  and  now  that  I  am  here  in  this  family  I 
hope  that  my  progress  in  Arabic  will  be  more  rapid. 
For  while  we  do  use  a  good  deal  of  English,  yet  I  hear 
Arabic  constantly  all  around  me  and  am  given  lessons 
by  the  various  members  of  the  family  at  meals  and  at 
any  other  time  I  wish.  The  flat  is  on  the  third  floor 
of  a  house  in  the  Shubra  Quarter  near  the  station  and 
right  by  the  tracks,  but  I  do  not  mind  that.  Of  course, 
there  are  some  smells  which  occasionally  come  my 
way  which  are  not  to  be  sought  after,  but  it  is  really 
very  nice  from  this  standpoint,  as  I  have  a  room  facing 
the  north  and  looking  over  other  houses  which  are 
lower,  so  that  I  get  quite  a  view.  My  room  is  rather 
small  for  what  I  have  in  it,  but  as  I  have  the  use  of 
the  dining  room  and  library  as  well  for  study  and 
writing,  it  does  not  much  matter.” 

On  March  5,  Dr.  F.  M.  Pain  of  the  Church  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  died  after  a  short  attack  of  cerebro-spinal 
meningitis.  Bill  wrote  regarding  this :  “An  event  here 
in  Cairo  has  saddened  us  all  and  made  me  realize  anew 
the  heroism  of  the  doctor  in  his  everyday  work.  I 
refer  to  the  sudden  death  of  Dr.  Pain  of  the  C.  M.  S. 
here  in  Cairo,  a  man  beloved  by  hundreds  and  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

“I  only  met  him  twice,  once  soon  after  my  arrival, 
and  the  next  thing  I  knew  he  was  dead.  .  .  . 


27 


“His  funeral,  attended  as  it  was  by  a  great  crowd  of 
natives  and  Europeans,  was  a  most  eloquent  testi¬ 
monial  of  his  loving  faithfulness  in  serving  the 
Master.”  As  Bill  left  the  cemetery,  he  whispered  to 
a  companion,  “Now  we  must  all  work  harder,  for  the 
night  cometh.” 

The  night  was  indeed  coming.  Bill  had  somewhere 
picked  up  the  germ  of  the  same  disease  and  towards 
the  close  of  March  was  himself  in  the  hospital, 
struggling  for  his  life.  For  three  weeks  he  fought 
through  the  attack,  but  found  himself  at  the  close  too 
weak  to  rally  and  passed  on  through  the  night  into  the 
light  of  His  Presence  whom  he  had  served  so  faith¬ 
fully.  His  elder  sister  had  been  with  him  during  the 
latter  half  of  his  illness,  but  his  mother  and  younger 
sister  did  not  reach  Cairo  until  three  hours  after  his 
death. 

The  funeral  was  simple.  The  burial  service  and  the 
16th  Psalm  were  read,  after  which  two  American  mis¬ 
sionaries  offered  prayer.  The  hymns  sung  were,  “We 
have  heard  a  joyful  sound,  Jesus  saves,”  and  “Face 
to  face  with  Christ  my  Saviour.” 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five  Bill  had  gone  home  to  be 
with  “Christ  his  Saviour.”  Seven  years  before,  he 
had  seen  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Grand  Hall  on  the  Strand, 
Fondon,  and  had  given  his  life  to  Him.  For  these 
seven  years  he  had  faithfully  walked  with  his  Master 
in  consecrated  service.  All  over  the  world  were  those 
whose  lives  had  been  blessed  and  strengthened  because 
Bill  Borden  had  lived.  There  are  many  to-day  who 
remember  him  with  love  for  the  richness  of  life  that 
came  to  them  through  him.  Consistently,  in  life  and 
word,  he  upheld  Christ  as  strong  to  save,  and  he  left  a 
trail  of  changed  lives  behind  him.  In  his  short  life  he 


28 


did  more,  through  God,  than  most  do  in  a  full  lifetime 
and  his  influence  will  live  after  him. 

The  secret  of  his  life  lies  in  his  relation  to  Christ. 
He  came  to  a  time  of  choice  and  turned  sharply  away 
from  many  things  that  were  attractive  to  him  in  order 
that  Christ  might  have  the  chief  place  in  his  life. 
Ever  after  there  was  a  definiteness  about  his  every  act 
that  comes  only  to  those  who  give  themselves  unre¬ 
servedly  to  Christ  Jesus.  The  center  being  right,  the 
outreaching  of  his  life  rang  true.  So  it  was  that  he 
regarded  his  wealth  as  a  trust,  spending  little  on  him¬ 
self  and  much  for  others.  So  it  was  that  his  will  is 
such  a  remarkable  document,  in  which  all  of  his  for¬ 
tune  was  given  away  for  the  furtherance  of  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God  at  home  and  abroad.  And  because  of  the 
same  decision  Bill’s  life  seemed  to  flow  out  with  quiet 
power  into  the  hearts  and  lives  of  many  wherever  he 
went.  He  had  ever  ahead  a  vision  of  service  for  Him 
to  whom  he  belonged,  and  life  was  full  of  peace  and 
quiet  even  though  duties  and  cares  pressed  in  upon 
him.  As  was  said  of  another  young  man  who  died  in 
his  twenties :  “He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  singleness 
of  heart.  He  lived  but  for  one  object — the  glory  of 
the  Redeemer  in  connection  with  the  salvation  of 
immortal  souls.  Hence  he  carried  a  kind  of  hallowing 
influence  into  every  company  into  which  he  entered.” 

When  Bill  was  eight  years  old,  Mrs.  Borden  had  the 
children  write  on  slips  of  paper  what  they  wanted  to 
be  when  they  grew  up.  These  slips  were  put  away  and 
not  looked  at  for  some  years.  It  is  still  possible  to 
read  in  Bill’s  sprawling,  boyish  handwriting:  “I  want 
to  be  an  honeast  man  when  I  grow  up,  and  true  and 
loveing  and  faithful  man.”  And  because  he  trusted 
not  in  his  own  strength  but  turned  his  life  over  to  God 


29 


to  work  upon  as  He  willed,  his  boyhood  wish  came 
true;  so  that  honesty,  truthfulness,  love  and  faithful¬ 
ness,  with  the  last  named  quality  preeminent,  were 
wrought  into  his  very  life. 

And  yet  he  was  not  perfect.  He  had  his  faults  and 
none  knew  them  better  than  he.  Still  it  was  noticeable 
that  such  faults  as  the  outsider  might  notice  were 
gradually  disappearing  and  that  his  whole  character 
seemed  to  soften  and  refine  as  the  years  went  on. 
Surely  Christ  was  molding  him  year  by  year  into  His 
likeness. 

And  Bill  was  not  a  genius.  Things  did  not  come  to 
him  easily.  He  worked  hard  for  all  to  which  he 
attained.  He  had  no  exceptional  gifts,  but  he  attained 
the  exceptional,  so  that  memorial  services  were  held  in 
many  places;  while  his  death  and  will  attracted  the 
attention  of  thousands.  He  became  great  with  a 
greatness  that  resulted  from  his  taking  Christ  Jesus 
as  the  Lord  and  Master  of  his  life.  The  Master’s  love 
for  all  mankind  was  put  into  his  heart  so  that  year 
after  year  he  pushed  on  to  carry  the  message  of  God’s 
love  to  the  Mohammedans  of  China  in  the  far-off 
province  of  Kansu.  Surely  “a  prince  and  a  great  man 
has  fallen  this  day,”  but  he  abides  and  his  influence 
abides.  Perhaps  God  will  put  it  into  the  heart  of  some 
Yale  man  to  take  up  this  work  for  which  Bill  was 
preparing  when  God  called  him  home.  “Lord,  with 
thee  I  am  ready  to  go  both  to  prison  and  to  death.” 


30 


